Thomasville Pediatrics celebrates 50 years

Tuesday

At that time, Williams was stationed in Alabama at the Maxwell Air Force Base, and his good friend and classmate Dr. Neil Bender urged Williams to join him in Thomasville to open a practice together.

That plan became Thomasville Pediatrics. Fifty years later, the office is still serving the public and providing medical attention to local youth.

"I came and looked and it just happened," said Williams, who attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and The UNC School of Medicine. "My first cousin was a senior minister here at Memorial Church, and so when he found out I was looking he started asking me about coming and Neil Bender kept pushing me, so I wound up here. Greatest thing I ever did."

Thomasville Pediatrics officially opened in July 1968. Back then, an office visit only cost $3.

The office began in the Medical Arts Center building on Randolph Street. For 15 years, the office was in the Southgate Shopping Center, and then in 1984, officials built the current office on Arthur Drive, which has been remodeled about seven times.

Thomasville Pediatrics went from three physicians in 1970 to 21 providers in 2018.

Among the multiple decades of serving the community, Thomasville Pediatrics has also expanded its reach. In 1996, Thomasville Pediatrics opened a satellite office in Randolph County, which now staffs four physicians. In 2017, the office opened a well-child clinic for newborns to 2 years old.

"It's pretty typical for pediatric practices to do that," Williams said. "We saw a need over in Randolph County and Archdale. We actually built a new office there about 10 years ago, and that practice has grown, too."

Williams said the success of the medical office can be attributed to not only its concern for children, but also its interests in schools, the Thomasville Chamber of Commerce and the hospital, which was built in 1970.

The doctor said the practice never set unnecessary constraints against who it would see, a policy primarily driven by Dr. Charles Gilliam, who joined in 1969.

"He had been in general practice here and he just set the tone that we were going to be an open practice," Gilliam said. "We were going to see any and everybody. When Medicaid started a few years later, we weren't going to shun anybody for their inability to pay. So I think the fact that we reached out across the community for the people has been a big thing."

When the practice opened, there were only three staff members — Williams, his wife, Jane, and Carol Jarvis.

Jarvis has remained with the medical office since that time.

The faithful employee said she appreciated that Williams was accommodating.

"Depending on what was going on, Dr. Williams allowed me to work part-time when I needed to and to be out of the office when I needed to," Jarvis said. "(He) was just very cooperative in my needs as far as work is concerned. That's why I never changed jobs. It's very interesting. You see the children come in when they're infants and over the years they've grown up and now they're adults and they're bringing their children and grandchildren."

Williams acknowledged that Thomasville has changed in the past five decades, particularly with the disappearance of the furniture industry. But he added that Thomasville is now starting to wake up and expand, and so has Thomasville Pediatrics, with the addition of new doctors who provide unique perspectives.

Even though he is retired, Williams still works at the office a few times each week.

The doctor said that he sees and greets patients and families outside the office almost every day.

"They tell me that I've done a lot of heroic things, but I don't think I really did," Williams said. "They'll thank you for the fact you've hung in there with them and helped them out."

Ben Coley can be reached at (336) 249-3981, ext. 227 or at ben.coley@the-dispatch.com. Follow Ben on Twitter: @LexDispatchBC

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